The Oconomowoc Common Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to cancel the city’s contract with Flock Safety, ending six automated license-plate cameras posted around the city.
Mayor Matt Rosek put the resolution on the agenda after aldermen asked for a vote. The contract runs through 2027. Ending it early could cost the city $18,000 next year; officials said that figure is already in the draft budget. Rosek said police had used the system responsibly but that the question was no longer just local performance. “Despite our strong track record, the decision before us today is about whether the system and the technology surrounding it continues to provide the level of security, accountability, privacy, and public trust that our community expects,” he said.
Alderman Lou Kowieski voted to cancel. He has said the cameras can help catch criminals, but the volume of data collected, like plates, vehicle descriptions, time and location on every pass, raises Fourth Amendment problems, not just the risk of a rogue officer. “I think the Flock camera system has potential benefit, and has provided benefit, but I believe it is a violation of our Fourth Amendment right and what that system can do,” Kowieski told FOX6 before the vote.
City policy limits searches to sworn officers with a stated law-enforcement purpose, stores images for 30 days, and bars use for traffic or parking tickets. Kowieski objected to the collection itself and to how Flock handles the network, including leasing the same infrastructure to other users.
Alderwomen Jennifer Aultman Kloth and Karen Spiegelberg voted no, arguing the cameras add a layer of safety. Aultman Kloth said she asked an officer that week to run her own plate and was told the system only allows searches tied to open cases. Several residents spoke in public comment. Most who addressed the council wanted the contract ended, citing data storage, breaches, and tracking of people not under investigation. One speaker said he trusted officers with his life and therefore with a camera.
The Oconomowoc Area School District leases four additional Flock cameras at Oconomowoc High School for $3,000 each per year and said it will follow the city’s decision. District officials said the cameras were used with city police and the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office on theft, vandalism, and unauthorized people on campus. FOX6 reported police queried the district’s Flock database more than 1,300 times in June, July and August. Those school cameras were not on Tuesday’s city ballot, but the district’s stated alignment means they are next.
Waukesha and Racine cut the Flock cord Tuesday. Waukesha’s Common Council voted not to fund Flock after 2026, dropping a proposed $292,000 line for the cameras from the city’s 2027–2030 capital plan. Mayor Alicia Halvensleben said innovation matters but so does confidence in the vendor: “Maintaining the public’s trust requires transparency, accountability and confidence in the companies with whom we partner.” Police Chief Dan Thompson said Flock had helped investigations, then added that “effectiveness alone is not enough.” The city will keep using other tools and review any replacement against privacy and accountability tests.
In Racine, Mayor Cory Mason broke a 7-7 council tie to terminate the city’s Flock contract after nearly two hours of debate. “I’m deeply troubled by all of this data being given to a private third-party company that is doing things with us, that to me is not transparent,” Mason said. Cameras stay live 30 days so police can finish open cases; Chief Alexander Ramirez said swapping to another system could take six to nine months. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling had already ordered his office’s Flock units pulled.
The three city votes join a list that already includes Menasha, Neenah, Stevens Point, and paused or removed county systems in Winnebago, Fond du Lac, and Racine.
